Mount & Blade - Kinect (FAAST) Head Tracking (GlovePIE) Voice Control (VAC)

This is probably the most ambitious attempt I've made so far. Mount & Blade is a game that could work fantastically with motion control - if only it had been designed that way! By a slow process of trial and error I'm now approaching a working concept - even if head tracking is being done by a hat my mum gave me for Christmas.

Once head tracking via either the RGB or IR camera becomes possible we should be able to chuck away the silly hat and look a lot less daft playing this fantastic game. I've tried multiple webcam based head tracking solutions but they are generally to inaccurate and get thrown off by other fleshy movements such as hands waving around. Shadows also seem to confuse them and make them inappropriate for this implementation.

If you've not come across Mount & Blade before, it was originally an indie game with a heavy community focus. It was later picked up by a publisher and converted into a mainstream retail product. You'll notice that the graphics aren't that impressive - a result of its long development cycle and small team.

The main thing that makes Mount & Blade work is it's combat system. I hope you'll agree that slowly and surely the Kinect interpretation is getting there. Movement is currently carried out by a 3d chuck - as I struggle to find a way of moving about 3d space in functioning manner. I may later create a switch to allow the left hand to control the horse (like reins) at a later date if it fits and doesn't require an immersion breaking level of composure.

As with all my other videos, if you want to try this out go and actually buy the games in question. Sure it's quicker and easier to torrent but remember that game dev's need the royalties and publisher deals to carry on making great titles. If you don't pay for the game then you silently consent to making people redundant and adversely affect the risk / payoff decisions made by publishers when funding games for release on the PC. Now you don't want that do you?


Please give your support to the following amazing projects that make all this possible.

Mount & Blade: http://www.taleworlds.com/
FAAST (Kinect Key Bindings): http://projects.ict.usc.edu/mxr/faast
GlovePIE (Scripting engine and wiimote control): http://glovepie.org/
VAC (Voice Control): http://www.dwvac.com/

And in other news:


Scripts used in this video: http://projects.ict.usc.edu/mxr/faast/forum/?mingleforumaction=viewtopic&...

Mount & Blade forum post on this: http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php?topic=155663

My old Mount and Blade Mod (for ver 0.93 if you can find it): http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php?topic=33838.135

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• Mount & Blade
• Kinect
• FAAST
• GlovePIE
• VAC

[JustKOF]

This guy kode80apps is developing something for head tracking with the kinect.

youtube.com/watch?v=CddvvlP4UN­M

There was also some webcam headtracking for a webcam (can't find that info currently)

[demize2010]

@JustKOF Cheers man :) I saw this guys vid a while back, there is another which uses google androids in a similar concept that's also pretty neat. Main issue is they use a different platform to FAAST and can't be used in combination with it.

I've tried various webcam head tracking tools but they get impacted too much by other body movements and shadows getting thrown across your face (as you swing your arms about madly).

[CorpBlitz]

Taleworlds should hire him. To make an Xbox Port of Mount and Blade :D

[SBFSuperAdventures]

This is incredible!

[Brotherblaze]

Nice dude, already bought the game. People that torrent indie games are losers

[georgetunstall]

briliant i wish this was mainstrem where you could go out and buy the kit for games, i would defo buy it

[LeMTv]

Pardon my newb question, I'm new to the concept of kinect hacking/adaptations. Instead of head tracking to replace the mouse direction, couldn't you use the nunchuck joystick to direct your play?

[Wiilovewii]

Wow! this is so frakking awesome!

[elasolezito]

try that at first person view it should be better :)

[Junriah]

This vid almost makes me want to play M&B. Great job there. Hopefully the head tracking will be fixed even though that hat suits you well.

[whannes]

This comment relates to your hat being unfunny.

[kid29a]

The hat should definitely stay as it is! xD impressive job, man!